Aspect ratio difference 1.1 vs 2.0

Now before I start this could be different TVs doing different things.
However, this could be a difference in the way AppleTV 1.1 vs 2.0 handles video.
AppleTV1 > software 1.1 > connected LG 32"LCD (1080i setting)
AppleTV2 > software 2.0 > connected Panasonic 42" plasma (1080p setting)
Both connected via HDMI.
I have a movie which is in an aspect ratio of I guess 2.35:1, certainly wider than 16:9.
If I play this file fullscreen in Quicktime Pro it is certainly much wider than the 16:10 of my iMac monitor.
On the Panasonic via AppleTV 2.0, the expected black bars top and bottom are preserved.
Same file via AppleTV 1.1 on the LG and the movie is scaled to fill the 16:9 screen i.e. stretched vertically.
I have definitely not got HDMI scaling/zooming on on the LG TV set as I can cycle through the Zoom options and get back to original which looks stretched.
I cannot believe that the TV would automatically stretch wider than 16:9 content to fit as this would play havoc with HDMI playback of such material on DVDs.
This is bizarre, and I can only assume that AppleTV1 is zooming vertically to fill the screen on this file.
Anyone with both software versions have a similar file to compare?
AC
Message was edited by: Alley_Cat

OK
I've swapped the AppleTV over on the Panasonic - AppleTV 1 (1.1 - 1080i) gets the aspect ratio wrong and zooms the movie vertically, whereas AppleTV 2.0 (1080p) gets it right.
I'm sure I used to have some wider than 16:9 content before and never noticed this problem.
Perhaps a more important finding:
1.1 definitely won't play back the 5.1 soundtrack that AppleTv 2.0 will.
However, as 5.1 movies ALSO have an AAC soundtrack, AppleTV 1.1 will still output this audio track correctly from files that have both - so no real problem running both versions on your network.
AC
Message was edited by: Alley_Cat

Similar Messages

What is the difference between Aspect Ratios?

Hello. I couldn't find any specific documentation regarding this.
I am working on an iPhoto 09 slideshow project using the scrapbook theme. I am planning to export the slideshow as a movie (it looks like the default export is mpeg 4 but I could also export as a quicktime .mov) and then move to iDVD to burn on a DVD. Ultimately, I need to show it on a projector using a DVD player. I'm not sure what the projector's resolution is but I assume 16:9 will be the best aspect ratio for the highest quality.
In the slideshow settings, there are 4 different aspect ratios:
1) This Screen (16:9)
2) HDTV (16:9)
3) TV (4:3)
4) iPhone (3:2)
What is the difference between This Screen (1) and HDTV (1)? Does it matter? Any other suggestions?
Thanks.

Terence Devlin wrote:
Aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to the height of the image - in other words it's about shape. So both the 'This Screen' and the 'HDTV' settings will be the same Aspect Ratio.
The Aspect Ratio has no bearing on the quality, only the shape of the final images.
TD is absolutely correct here. The aspect ratio is only the shape of the image, not the quality. Basically, you need to decide if you are designing the show for viewing on a HD tv (16:9 or widescreen) or a SD tv (4:3 or squarish). A couple of years ago this choice was easy since most tv's out there were still 4:3, but today, the opposite is true. The popular choice now would be 16:9.
The biggest problem you will have with the quality of your slideshow is the
fact that you're burning it to DVD.
Your slideshow will be heavily compressed to fit the DVD spec of 640 x 480
pixels and this can lead to soft images or even blurry ones.
I think we're getting "compression" and "resolution" confused here a bit, or at the very least, we're using the wrong terminology.
For everyone's benefit, let me try to explain...
If you show an image that is native 640x480 on a screen that is native 640x480 (standard def tv screen), the image will look just fine. This is resolution and will not effect quality as long as you don't try to view at a higher resolution than the image actually is.
(If you try to view a 640x480 slide show in full screen mode on your computer monitor which is running at 1280x1024, the image will look horrible.)
Trying to view a higher rez image (ie: 3200x2400) on a lower resolution (ie 640x480 or SD tv) screen will reap NO benefit in quality. Remember that a SD TV will only show 640x480 (or 720x480) and no higher, so there is no benefit in trying to cram more pixels into an image than the screen can actually show.
Of course this all changes if you're going to view it on today's HiDef tvs, but even on them, the resolution tops at at 1920x1080. Once again, using a very high def image (ie: 3840x2160) will reap NO benefit since the resolution of the screen it's being viewed on tops out at 1920x1080. The aspect ratio on this type of tv is now 16:9 so the images shape will be wider than a normal tv (4:3).
Compression is the scheme used to compress an image to reduce it's file size, thus reducing it's quality. JPEG is a common form of image compression, and the amount of compression can be adjusted..the more compression, the more degradation of quality. This has nothing to do with resolution.
Depending on how you're going to process (iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD), the program will reduce the resolution of the original image to the resolution of you output. In other words, don't worry about doing any kind of resolution change prior to creating the dvd, as the program you choose to use will simply lower the resolution (this is not compression) to fit the output you choose.
Message was edited by: Rufus
Message was edited by: Rufus
Message was edited by: Rufus

Difference Matte Key aspect ratio PP2.0

I'd appreciate some help with the Difference Matte Key using Premiere Pro 2.0. I followed the instructions in the help guide to set up the Difference Matte, and it worked perfectly, except... the Matte doesn't match the 16:9 aspect ratio I'm using, it only applies to the central area of the screen leaving a band either side where the original background of the video remains unaffected.
How can I get the Matte to fit across the whole screen, please?

OK
I've swapped the AppleTV over on the Panasonic - AppleTV 1 (1.1 - 1080i) gets the aspect ratio wrong and zooms the movie vertically, whereas AppleTV 2.0 (1080p) gets it right.
I'm sure I used to have some wider than 16:9 content before and never noticed this problem.
Perhaps a more important finding:
1.1 definitely won't play back the 5.1 soundtrack that AppleTv 2.0 will.
However, as 5.1 movies ALSO have an AAC soundtrack, AppleTV 1.1 will still output this audio track correctly from files that have both - so no real problem running both versions on your network.
AC
Message was edited by: Alley_Cat

XML file from '08 has a different aspect ratio in FCP 6?

I have the new canon vixia hg 21 which is avchd and FCP 6 isn't recognizing it. Using Imovie to recognize the files works fine, the problem is that when you export from imovie '08 into FCP via xml, it imports fine, but I get a display issue with black bars surrounding the footage, only in the canvas. It appears fine in the viewer and in it's own sequence in the timeline. But when you mix the different camera footage together, the other being the Canon XH A1, it appears as a different aspect ratio??? What the? and for the life of me, I've re imported using 16:9, no difference...I have no idea what's going on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You should really take this to the Final Cut Pro forum as the codecs and the interface is different for Final Cut Express.

Can anyone tell me if Quicktime Pro retains aspect ratio once a video is rotated?

I'm reluctant to purchase Quicktime Pro until I know the answer to this question and Apple Support doesn't seem to have anyway to ask, so I thought I'd try this group.
I took some videos with my iPhone (the long way), and need to be able to rotate them and convert them to avi files. I understand that Quicktime Pro can do the rotation and conversion, but I saw one review that said the aspect ratio is not retained, i.e. the video comes out flattend (wider).
Can anyone tell me if this is still true with QT Pro, or if there are other solutions for resolving this outside of QT Pro?? I have tried a number of other converters, and found one that rotates, but aspect ratio not retained.
Thanks in advance for any help shared!!!

I took some videos with my iPhone (the long way), and need to be able to rotate them and convert them to avi files. I understand that Quicktime Pro can do the rotation and conversion, but I saw one review that said the aspect ratio is not retained, i.e. the video comes out flattend (wider).
This may or may not depend on your specific work flow. Many "settings' saved to the original file by QT 7 Pro are merely "playback instructions" which may or may not play correctly in other media players while these same settings do work properly when saved/converted to a new file container. In addition, not being a Windows user, I don't know if there are are any significant differences between the Mac and Windows versions of QT 7. In any case, I just took a short sample clip, stored it on my hard drive via Aperture 3, opened the file in QT 7 Pro, rotated the clip in QT 7 Pro, and used the "Save As..." command to store the modified file. This modified file now plays correctly in current versions of the QT 7, MPEG Streamclip, and VLC media players. Have uploaded a copy of this file so you can download it, test playback in various players you normally use, and/or test convert it to your specific AVI audio and video compression formats.
SAMPLE ROTATED FILE
Can anyone tell me if this is still true with QT Pro, or if there are other solutions for resolving this outside of QT Pro?? I have tried a number of other converters, and found one that rotates, but aspect ratio not retained.
As indicated above, the file plays correctly for me in various media players and all media "Inspector" windows, including other third party media information utilities, confirm the correct dimensions and aspect ratio as displayed. As to AVI conversion, I test converted the uploaded file to AVI (DivX5/MP3) at original dimensions using VisualHub. (Also tried the VideoMonkey AVI encode but it limited the source 720p file to a 720x480 output and I did not know if you were agreeable to such a restriction.) Suggest you run similar tests with your preferred Windows converters to confirm/refute results on your system.

Still Photo Aspect Ratio Confusion

Apologize for asking a question on this topic as I have been through the forum and realize the topic of aspect ratio comes up often. I have not however seen this question answered. Quick background:
-Working with HD Video footage imported as SD as I am burning non-HD dvd's and I have heard the conversion in IDVD and Toast from HD is not great;
-Using photos imported from Aperture in FCE;
-Sequence is NTSC anamorphic as I want 16:9 but without HD;
My question is about the aspect ratio of still photos when I bring them into the timeline. I have experimented with saving photos in different aspect ratios: 853x480 and 720x480. When I import into FCE the 853 shows a square pixel and the 720 shows a NTSC pixel. From what I have read this is due to the way FCE interprets the aspect ratio and assigns an pixel aspect. When I view each in the viewer they both look correct when I click the corresponding pixel aspect from the top of the viewer. It is when I move these to the timeline that I get confused. The 853 gets an adjustment of 18.52 and the 720 gets an adjustment of 33.33. What do these adjustments actually represent? Is it a percentage, a number of pixels, something else? When I read about it in the Manual it seems to state that FCE adjusts for the difference between the still and sequence, but then why does it adjust the 720 since it has the same pixel aspect as the sequence? I then tried changing the Pixel aspect of the 853 in the browser to NTSC and moving it to the timeline. I get the same 33.33 adjustment. The 33.33 does not look correct in either of them, but when I change it to 18.52 it looks correct (with the pixel aspect at square, with it not checked it looks "skinny" or squished).
Only thing I can think is that it has something to do with the anamorphic adjustment and the squeezing that goes on with it as 18.52 as 853 (widescreen) is 18.47 percent wider the 720.
At this point I am really not sure how these will display when I make a dvd and display on a widescreen tv. I would prefer not to do this by guessing or looking at the picture, but instead by understanding what FCE is doing and making sure I have the settings and adjustments correct.
Sorry for the long message, but would really appreciate any advice

Michael,
sorry to disagree, but for sure I was not clear, and the topic is quite complex. So I decided to provide an overview (as much as I can...) of the various combinations of clips inserted into various sequences with all settings - possibly on my web site (I'm afraid other posters are getting bored about all this math).
But since this is taking quite a bit of time, let me just tell you now where I disagree about your findings. When I'll have my overview completed I hope that will better explain what I mean.
_Your point 1_.
I'm pretty sure you (unwillingly) are importing your 16:9 square pixel NTSC clip into a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+ (not your original 16:9 anamorphic NTSC sequence). Please check your sequence settings by selecting the sequence in the browser in list view and reading the Frame Size, Pixel Aspect, and Anamorphic fields.
a. If your sequence is in fact +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC sequence+, by applying the formulas you get:
- PARclip for +16:9 square pixel NTSC+ clip = 853/853 = 1 (as for any square pixel clip)
- but PARseq is not 1 (as you write) but 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
- Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 0,8888/1 = 0,8888.
- Since Adjust is <1 Motion Aspect Ratio = - 100* (1/0,8888 -1) = -12,5 as you experienced on FCE. BTW this means that the imported clip has to be squeezed vertically by 12,5% (as opposite of horizontally).
b. If your sequence instead really is +16:9 anamorphic NTSC+ as you seem to imply, then 18,52 is correct as you confirm yourself with "Agree that in the four cases you list it agrees...": it is in fact the 2nd case in my 4 cases list.
_Your point 2_.
Here I suppose the sequence is +16:9 CCIR pixel NTSC+ which has PARseq = 853/720 = 1,1852.
But I'm not clear what you mean by "720/640 NTSC clip". My guess is that you mean a +4:3 CCIR pixel NTSC+ clip,
then PARclip = 640/720 (square/actual pixels) = 0,8888
then Adjust = PARseq/PARclip = 1,1852/0,8888 = 1,3333 and Motion Aspect Ratio = 100*(1,3333 - 1) = 33,33 as you experienced
_Adjust formula_.
I think this formula in your earlier message is incorrect: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = - 100 * (1/Adjust-1) if Adjust ≤ 1; seems like the formula: Aspect Ratio (in Motion/Distort) = 100 * (Adjust-1) if Adjust ≥ 1 works at all times including <1 as follows 100*(.875-1)=-12.5.</div>
This not true (well it is true only for Adjust = 1...). As an example if Adjust = 0,8888 then 100*(0,5-1) = -11,12 (wrong value for this pixel adjustment), while -100*(1/0,8888-1) = -12,51 which is the correct vertical squeeze !!
Why 2 different formulas are needed ? because when Adjust is >1 a +horizontal squeeze+ by Adjust is necessary to fix the pixel aspect ratio misalignement, when Adjust is <1 a +vertical squeeze+ is necessary by 1/Adjust... (figures will help as soon as they are ready for... publishing).
I'm sorry these posts are so long, I try to make them as clear as possible, but the topic is a bit messy and, even if only fractions are involved in this math, their actual meaning is not always intuitive...I'd really appreciate any comment also by more experienced users of FCE/FCP...
Thanks
Piero

Aspect ratio query FCP

Hi there, wonder if someone can help with this/
I have filmed a short piece of PAL SD footage in 16:9 format on a Sony Z1 camera.
The finished job is to be 16:9 SD output to DVD PAL.
Can some one confirm what settings I should use from the easy set-up menu for capturing the project? should I be capturing footage as anamorphic?
The reason I ask is that I am being given contrasting info from the chap I am sharing the editing with and don't want to get it wrong from the start.
On his FCP system he is saying that his sequence is NOT set as anamorphic, his browser and canvas viewers are NOT anamorphic, yet he says that the project is still 16:9 ? He says that he is viewing via an external broadcast monitor in 16:9 and only this will show the 16:9 true aspect of the project?
If he clicks sequence settings, sure enough there is NO tick under anamorphic, likewise in the logging list window, yet he still says the finished job will be 16:9, how can this be? i am really confused by this.
I just want the finished job to be as shot from the Sony Z1 camera and to able to view the footage as shot in my browser & canvas windows. I was under the impression that my Z1 footage is anamorphic as it wasn't shot in HDV mode?
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
Stuart

Hi Stuart
Import it as anamorphic. This will ensure that the right flags are set in QuickTime so it will display correctly on your screen. If you end up sending the final project to tape, either system will still look right when that tape is played, but what's the point of editing in the wrong aspect ratio? The only difference between SD 4:3 and SD 16:9 is that they are displayed differently. The information each format contains is otherwise identical. So go ahead and tick the anamorphic box that Apple have provided so that your pictures are stretched to the correct aspect ratio. In that way everything will look right as you edit, and any graphics you apply won't turn out short and fat in the finished product.
Ian

FCP QT Conversion, Why result in wider aspect ratio ??

When I export "selfcontained" QT from FCP, it is in the same aspect ratio as I see in canvas (4:3), however when I export the same project "using QT conversion", the exported movie file is saved and plays in wider ratio.
Please help, how could I keep it 4:3?
Also, I have my frame size set for NTSC DV (3:2), is this correct? I find myself still confused with a question that I posted previously: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12554373#12554373
Any advice, clarification would be appreciated!

Hi Joe,
this is helpful, thank you!
when I exported with "QT conversion", this time I went into "option">"size" and corrected into 720x480 4:3, before it was set as "compressor native" (640x480)and it exported the same ratio file as "selfcontained".
yes, I am using the old fashion 4:3, imported files are still images shot with a digital camera. unfortunately this camera doesn't record HD....
what I don't understand is the difference between NTSC DV 3:2 and NTSC 4:3. Even though my materials are in 4:3 ratio, if I choose NTSC 4:3 it gets distorted from the original image so I choose 3:2 in FCP.
Is this the distortion that you mentioned which happens only on computer screen? I would like to know which setting is true to the original materials not for playing back on computer but for creating DVD....?

Aspect ratio issues in iDVD with mov files exported from FCE

Please help. I believe this is an iDVD bug. I have found some relevant discussion of it on online forums - but have not found a solution that works for me. I am looking for a workaround.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1356500&tstart=31
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
My 4:3 movies, exported from FCE in QT-with-conversion formats (any 4:3 format) - appear in iDVD with gray side-pillars (as expected for 4:3) AND with a black line (letter-boxing) at top and bottom - as would be for 16:9. It appears the aspect ratio is also distorted i.e. 16:9. (The iDVD project is set to 4:3.)
1- A 4:3 mov file exported from FCE using Quicktime Movie format (no conversion) does not have the problem, but I cannot de-interlace the video using this export mode.
2) A 4:3 mov file exported using QT-with-conversion mode (any 4:3 format) DOES have the problem. I need to use this mode in order to get de-interlace.
(Exception: 640x480 VGA mode does not have the black lines, and it displays correctly in dvd player on my computer screen - but on the TV screen, it crops content from the top and bottom of the movie, so this is not an option.)
3) In Finder, if you click on mov file exported QT-only (no conversion), it opens in the FCE viewer. If you click on mov file exported in any other 4:3 mode, it opens in Quicktime viewer (i.e. there is absolutely something different in the header/ID of these files.)
4) All mov files, regardless of export mode, show correctly in Quicktime viewer - no black line, no distortion. The problem does not occur outside of iDvd.
5) I tried passing the QT-with-conversion mov files through an Inverse-Anamorphicizer (per suggestion on forum - this apparently fixed the problem for some people) but the resulting output mov (i.e. the inverted product) still had the same problem.
I am, so far, left with this trade-off: Give up the de-interlacing, or live with the letter-boxing/ distortion. Neither is acceptable.
I am looking for a workaround:
1) A way to export de-interlaced 4:3 mov from FCE that shows in correct ratio in iDVD
2) A way to "convert" / re-head mov file after exported so that it displays corrrectly (inverse-anamorphicize) so that iDVD reads it correctly
3) Can the mov be de-interlaced after the fact (so I could use QT export without conversion)?
4) Something besides iDVD to put this together - that doesn't have this problem? (I like and want to use the iDVD menu/theme.)
5) Other?????
I also notice that all the QT-with-conversion mov files are 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the QT-only mov file, which is valuable and preferable to me. (I don't see any quality difference in the display...)

In the Preview window > top frame > middle button
do you have correct for pixel aspect ratio checked or not?
!http://i533.photobucket.com/albums/ee340/gogiangigo/Picture1-4.png!

Aspect ratio problem in Windows Media Player for DVD from DVD Studio Pro

So I made a DVD with DVD Studio Pro and it looks good in Apple's DVD Player, on an Insignia DVD player appliance and on Playstation 2. Both the movie and the deleted scene were 16:9 from camera to Final Cut Pro and they show that way in all these players.
But on Windows Media Player for Windows XP, the program thinks the movie is 4:3 and the deleted scene is 16:9. Nero's Showtime has the same exact behavior, but at least you can force aspect ratio on Nero.
Besides being longer, the movie is different from the deleted scene in that the movie was originally out of Final Cut Express on an older Mac and it was encoded big endian. The deleted scene was output from Final Cut Pro and encoded little endian. I didn't think it would make a difference, but I tried outputting the movie from Final Cut Pro on the newer Mac and it did come out little endian. I took that into DVD Studio Pro, got rid of the old VIDEO_TS folder and re-built the project, burnt a new DVD. Then I went back to Windows and...
...the same exact problem. Some of the people I give this DVD to will be using Windows Media Player to view it, which is why I want this to not be an issue at all. What am I overlooking?

Look, everyone here (who each have been creating DVDs for over a decade) is telling you the same story. WMP is buggy. Everyone in the industry knows that. Hardware manufacturers like Dell and HP, know that. Why don't you use the DVD player program that they put on the hard drive? Sure one "Hollywood" title works. Did I mention that WMP is buggy? Test a thousand titles, and I'm certain that you will find some discs have problems on WMP, and WMP alone. (And it isn't my assertion that Hollywood DVDs have issues in WMP, everyone is telling you that.) No one has a solution for this, except to not use WMP. Let me repeat once again, no one has a solution for this except to not use WMP. It is impossible to add any sort of programming to the disc that will detect which player is being used to play the disc and compensate for the problems of that player.
Let me put it this way, if you have a disc that plays fine on Zeus's device, and on Apollo's device, and on Hera's device, and on Hermes' device, and on Artemis' device, but you have problems with Athena's device, then logically, Athena's device has a problem... not the disc. Your own experience has proved this to be true. If you were having problems with every device used, THEN you could rightfully say that there is a problem with the disc.

Changing seq. aspect ratio: crashes FCP

Hi all,
Despite my best intentions, my project contains sequences with different settings, which is causing problems on export. A quick overview of sequence contents and field dominance settings:
- SEQUENCE FIELD DOMINANCE: NONE
- PSD frame-graphic overlay (FD: None)
- QT titles from Keynote w/ transparency (FD: None)
- regular footage (FD: lower)
These field dom settings are the only ones that allow the titles to render crisply.
Rendering out using Compressor, DVD-90 settings. Some sequences render perfectly, but in others, the titles are jagged & blurry when rendered out. The only difference I can find, is in the sequence aspect ratios.
The sequences that render properly, are set at 720x480 NTSC DV (3:2).
The ones that render jagged/blurry titles, are 720x486 CCIR 601 NTSC (40:27). (These display crisply in FCP Canvas, but render improperly.)
When I change a sequence's aspect ratio to NTSC DV 3:2, I get "Operation Not Allowed," then "Out of memory," then the canvas turns red with the words "Display unavailable. Close and reopen window to restore." Sometimes, I get the beachball and then FCP crashes.
Closing and reopening doesn't help; I still have the red window. Only changing back to CCIR 601 brings the sequence back online.
I have tried creating a new sequence and copy/pasting, but I get "Out of memory" etc.
Can anyone advise??
Thanks very much,
Brett

By default Compressor assumes you're providing a 720x480 media file for compression to DVD. This is because DVD players can display only a 720x480 image.
If you send a 720x486 media file through the default Compressor settings, it will squeeze the image vertically to fit 720x480. It typically does not do this well.
If you suspect this is the problem, duplicate the DVD-90 setting, use the Inspector window and click on the Geometry button, select a Custom crop and crop 2 lines from the top and 4 lines from the bottom (always crop in even numbers for DVD playback). Rename and save the setting.

XML imported from iM '08 has a different aspect ratio in FCP 6?

I have the new canon vixia hg 21 which is avchd and FCP 6 isn't recognizing it. Using Imovie to recognize the files works fine, the problem is that when you export from imovie '08 into FCP via xml, it imports fine, but I get a display issue with black bars surrounding the footage, only in the canvas. It appears fine in the viewer and in it's own sequence in the timeline. But when you mix the different camera footage together, the other being the Canon XH A1, it appears as a different aspect ratio??? What the? and for the life of me, I've re imported using 16:9, no difference...I have no idea what's going on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Found the answer, and pretty simple too....yeesh. just click on your clip and go to setting>conform to sequence.

Clip Notes aspect ratio wrong

I have AE CS3 on an Intel 8. Would like to use Clip Notes for low-rez approvals, but when I render a Quicktime movie in 3 x 4 aspect ratio (like most video) when I open the pdf in Acrobat Reader 8.1.2, it stretches it to 16 x 9. Checked all the preferences and view options and can't find anything to change it. Searched through the render options in AE, and can't find anything in there either. Tried the NTSC presets, tried using Stretch, nothing makes any difference.
Also, the audio sounds very bad. I've seen demos of Clip Notes that looked great, but demos usually do.
Please help. I'd like to use this potentially great feature.
RD

Sorry, that was a typo. Since then I've done more tests. The default size ClipNotes wants for regular video is 640 x 480. But when I render it that way in AE-CS3, and open the PDF in Acrobat 8.1.2, it gets stretched to widescreen. There seems to be no way to control this. So then I go back, nest the 640 x 480 in a comp that is 854 x 480, which is the default size ClipNotes specifies, and render it with black pillars on the sides. When I open this PDF, it looks correct and not stretched. I can live with the black pillars until they fix this.
BUT, the fatal flaw is, the audio. It sounds terrible, like the music is doing a constant phase-shifter effect. I tried it at 48 and 44 kHz, and made sure the settings matched in the output module and the ClipNotes audio settings, and it made no difference.
Thanks for your thoughts on this, but do people from Adobe ever read these posts? I have read several posts about this audio problem here and on Creative Cow. I hope they fix it or tell me what to do soon. Try it with a clip that has music, and you will immediately see what I am talking about.

Understanding aspect ratio after a year

So it's been a year since I started learning FCP and among the kazillion things I don't understand, the one I most need to finally get clear about is a aspect ratio phenomenon with my setup, and all projects I've done so far.
I am still viewing my work on my Apple Cinema display, so am not monitoring on an actual NTSC broadcast video monitor. This fact may be at the heart of my situation. Nonetheless, I humbly ask you to take pity and help me understand what is going on.
Here's my situation:
I have been doing all the shooting for my projects using a Panasonic AG-DVC 30, a mini-DV standard def camera. The camera's manual states that by default it shoots in standard 4:3 aspect ratio -- and that's what I've been shooting.
When I log and capture in FCP I use the Easy Setup for DV NTSC. As I am viewing and logging the tapes, the aspect ratio looks correct. BUT, when I actually have it do the capture, the Capture Window stretches the image out a bit wider. Happily, when I go to work the captured clips in my Final Cut DV-NTSC Sequence, the aspect ratio looks perfectly great and normal.
Problems again occur when I export the finished video. I export a self-contained Quicktime movie with "Current Settings", which gives me a QT movie that is 720 x 480 pixels. SADLY, when I view that exported QT movie in Quicktime Viewer, it looks too wide again (same as the Capture screen). BUT, if I place it in DVD Studio (or iDVD) it looks normal again.
IT GETS WEIRDER: In order to try to correct my possible problem I've also tried exporting using the Self Contained Quicktime "DV-NTSC 48kHz 4:3" setting in the pop up menu (instead of usung "Current Settings"). The movies I export that way look consistently normal, aspect ratio-wise. Upon examining the properties of those (correct looking)resultant movies in Quicktime Player, it tells me that the pixel dimensions are 640 x 480.
Why would my 640 x 480 pixel QT exports look OK when I view them in every software?
Is this happening because I am viewing on a computer monitor and the various software apps are doing aspect ratio adjustments (for square vs rectangular pixels) for my display ...sometimes, but not all the time?
This is such a fundamental thing to know that I feel really dim for being confused. Thanks in advance for taking time to read this and hopefully setting me straight.
Dual G5/2.5GHz/4.5 GB, internal ATA, G-SATA 500 Mac OS X (10.4.6) Final Cut Studio 5.0.4

Yes, it's the difference between square and rectangular pixels. The capture window displays the rectangular pixels without correcting them for display on a square-pixel monitor like an Apple Cinema Display. The Canvas and the Viewer do correct for that by default. When you export to QT using current settings, you are exporting rectangular pixels because that's what the current settings are. The QuickTime player isn't correcting for the different pixel aspect ratios on playback, but if your final destination isn't the QuickTime player, that's not important.
Since you seem to be exporting the QuickTime movies in order to make a DVD, you shouldn't try to "fix" the pixel aspect. Leave it alone and your DVDs will be fine.

Aspect ratio bug with analog TVs?

I just bought an AppleTV, and connected it via component cables to a 4:3 TV (it's an older TV, has component inputs but only supports 480i, and it's 4:3, not widescreen).
The problem is that all 4:3 content that I have is squished horizontally on the AppleTV. And the same content plays fine on a variety of computers in iTunes, QuickTime, etc. Say I take a video file that's 640x480 (that's a 4:3 aspect ratio), and when played on a computer it looks correct. If I play it on the AppleTV, everything looks too narrow, and there are black bars on the left and right.
If I reencode the same video file to 720x480, then it looks correct on the AppleTV (fills the screen with no black bars, and people don't look squished). However, then it looks funny when played on any a computer, or anything else that isn't the AppleTV (now, people are fat, and there are black bars top and bottom).
My take is this is an AppleTV bug -- analog TVs (in the US anyway) have a resolution approximating 720x480, but an aspect ratio of 4:3, so the pixels aren't square. The AppleTV should be compensating for this (if it's gonna be the bridge between the digital world of H.264 files that come from computers with square pixels, and the analog world of NTSC TVs with non-square pixels, it should hide the differences) and isn't. In short, the AppleTV should be taking 640x480 content (or anything that's 4:3 with square pixels) and making it fill the TV screen, no matter that the TV screen has 720x480 slightly narrower pixels.
However, if I'm right, why aren't more people complaining about this; I can't be the first to notice? Am I the only one trying to connect the AppleTV to a 4:3 TV set?
Or, am I off base, and there's a simple explanation, or some setting I missed?
What I'm after is a way to take the media I've already encoded that plays fine on a Mac and make it play correctly on the AppleTV, and also a way to encode new media so that it plays fine both on the Mac and on the AppleTV, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

Also, I've read what I can find on the web, especially this excellent article: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-ipod-vi deo-formats-and-display-resolutions/. They have a really good explanation of anamorphic encoding, and how it's represented in QuickTime.
I'm using Handbrake (0.9.1) to encode, by the way, and its PAR setting for anamorphic encoding works fine with QuickTime; whether I encode to true 640x480 or PAR 640x480 (which results in a file that actually stores 716x480 but displays at 636x480 in my case) it ends up correct on a Mac and incorrect on the AppleTV+analog display.
Is there perhaps some extra display information that can be added to an .mp4 file, which will be honored by the AppleTV but ignored by everything else (including QuickTime on a computer), which can change the display size? I'd love to encode everything with anamorphic encoding so that the actual file stores 720x480 pixels, but a computer will render this at 640x480, and the AppleTV render it at 720x480 (all those numbers are for 4:3 content, again).

Aspect ratio difference 1.1 vs 2.0

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